The statistics are grimmer every month. Over half a million Americans lost their jobs last month alone. We are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Many Americans have lost their homes to forclosure, and others have been forced to declare bankruptcy due to medical emergencies. While the passage of the stimulus bill may save and create up to 4 million jobs, many of our friends and neighbors are facing long-term unemployment or underemployment.
No region of American is immune from this economic crisis. I have spent most of my adult life as a resident of the Garden State. We are one of the wealthiest states in the nation. Many Garden Staters commute to high-powered jobs in New York and Philadelphia. However, more and more New Jersey residents are facing what the Bushites termed "food insecurity" and the rest us of know is hunger. Local food banks are receiving more requests for help, and donations are not keeping up with the need. Follow me below the fold to learn more about hunger in the Garden State and what you can do to fight hunger in America.
The following statistics are from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey:
One out of every five New Jersey families does not earn enough to afford the basic necessities housing, food and child care although 85 percent of these households have at least one family member who is working. Only 6 percent of them receive welfare.
In New Jersey, 27% of children (575,000) live in low-income families, an increase from 2001.
An analysis of monthly client totals from emergency pantries served by the Community FoodBank of NJ shows a 20 percent increase this year in the number of people seeking food assistance. Some agencies in especially hard-hit areas report a 30 percent spike in need. Similar data is being seen at food banks all over the country.
The Food Bank of South Jersey reports that 87,000 poeple in the counties of Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Camden alone are at risk of going hungry.
Last October, the Star-Ledger reported that:
an estimated 250,000 new clients [are] seeking sustenance this year from New Jersey's food banks, pantries and soup kitchens. The hungry people in this state are no longer limited to the poor, the working poor and the elderly. The middle class, racked by layoffs, foreclosures or the rising cost of living, is now being forced to the fringes.
The huge upswing in demand, coupled with the upheaval in corporate America -- the traditional donor backbone of emergency food network -- and an unusually high export of America's food surplus could have a devastating impact on the state's, and the nation's, emergency food supplies, experts say.
Here in Central New Jersey, the post-election Mercer4Obama has done what we can to help. We have run two "Yes we can" food drives to support the Crisis Ministry which works to prevent hunger and homelessness in Trenton and Princeton.
However, we can't do it alone.
Here is the situation in a nutshell:
In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state's food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.
The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism. ~source
You can help by visiting Feeding America's website. Every dollar you donate will help provide a needy family with four bags of groceries. Think about that. Instead of buying one large latte at Starbuck's. you can help provide 16 bags of groceries for a family that is being forced to choose between food, medicine, and heat. I know that times are tough, and I feel very lucky just to have a job. Anything you can do to help will make a huge difference in people's lives. It is at times like this that we need to work as a community. Thank you all so much.
Please visit the other Filling Empty Bowls Diarists this weekend (all times Eastern):
Sunday, February 15, 2009
12 noon: rb137
3 p.m.: Timroff
6 p.m.: Meteor Blades
9 p.m.: srkp23
Revisit previous diaries:
Noweasels FEBI
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse FEB2: US/Afghanistan Food Justice
Hardhat Democrat: People are Starving Now
Boatsie: Unpaving Paradise
JellyBearDemMom: Honoring Those Childhood Memories